I discovered Pavlo while perusing artists on the Cryo Chamber label on Bandcamp. Cryo Chamber has been one of my favorite music labels since being introduced to them through a friend who played music from their catalog to provide the soundtrack to our Vampire: The Masquerade game sessions. I’ve never heard a Cryo Chamber release I didn’t like; there are just some I like more than others. I was hooked when I heard Pavlo’s Exo album. It’s as dark, ominous, and cinematic as everything else on Cryo Chamber but with a science fiction-horror vibe.
That’s not to say that Pavlo’s mix for today’s show sounds like that. But it's undoubtedly moody, atmospheric, and beautiful. I’ve been listing to it all week, and it’s exactly what I needed to help get me through Trump’s attempted coup here in the U.S. and 4,000+ dying a day from COVID-19. It’s surreal that I just wrote that sentence, but here we are.
Elliott Sharp’s Filiseti Mekidesi album
Before I go, I wanted to mention that last month Elliott Sharp (who did a mix for SOUNDWAVE) released his new album, Filiseti Mekidesi. The album is a meditation on the search for safety and neutrality, a place free from danger. It’s an opera, yes, but it’s an opera by Elliott Sharp, so it’s as unique and distinct as the rest of his oeuvre.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Mike Cadoo, founder of the record label, n5MD.
Today’s guest deejay is Harrold Roeland. Harrold is a trained composer, a poet, sound designer and performing musician, specializing in the use of environmental sounds and long attention spans. His works try to invoke the timelessness of the world and its landscapes. He sings medieval and renaissance music with Ensemble Vlechtwerk, and hosts the radio show Sensenta, a musical serial, at the Concertzender every Sunday evening that explores many of these themes.
From the beginning, whenever I’ve had a guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE I’ve asked them who they know personally that they think would be interested in participating in the show with a mix of their own. I do this for several reasons. For one, I like the intimacy of the invitation. While I have no problem contacting people I don't know to be on SOUNDWAVE I prefer this more personal touch. It’s a network built up of likeminded people who actually know each other. Secondly, having guest deejay’s on the show introduces me to wider scope of music. I’d like to think my knowledge of music is fairly deep but I know its really shallow. The guest deejays on SOUNDWAVE open me up to having so much more music in my life. And so many surprises! Today’s show features both Yusef Lateef and John Coltrane.
Harrold’s mix has been my soundtrack to many a late night and I'm thrilled to share it with you. Harrold’s will take you by the hand down darkened paths. It’s the kind of mix I love that seamlessly blends each song into the next and takes me on an emotional journey. I recently had the opportunity to listen to Harrold’s mix while driving through a sun-blasted Arizona highway and all it did was make the shadows cast from Harrold’s mix longer
Special thanks to Kirk Markarian of Neuro… No Neuro who introduced us to Harrold (listen to Kirk’s mix for SOUNDWAVE here). I’m curious to know who Harrold will introduce us to.
Harrold has some word about his mix which you can read below. But first, a few items I wanted to discuss.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, I launched SOUNDWAVE to help me cope with the stress and isolation of being stuck in my house due to the stay at home orders brought about by COVID-19. It was a very lonely time in my life: my wife was away at work and our kids were with their dad’s. It was just me, my dog and my music. Here we are in the second wave of the virus and once my wife has been sent out of town and yesterday I dropped off the kids to be with their dad. The difference this time is that instead of waiting months to be with my wife I’m going to see her today's and work remotely for the next few days. As a bonus, I’m going to spend the eight or so hours in my car listening to mixes for upcoming editions of SOUNDWAVE.
Pauline Anne Strom
Finally, last week we lost Harold Budd and this week we lost pioneering blind composer and synthesist Pauline Anne Strom. Pauline released music in the 1980s under the name Trans-Mellenia Consort and explored the ambient and new age. Pauline’s last album, Angel Tears in Sunlight, is her first new album in 30 years and is scheduled to be released in January 2021.
Join me next week when our guest deejay will be Applefish.
See you then!
Harrold Roeland
This mix starts with jazz, an album by Yusuf Lateef which has a nicely worn out sound. Biosphere’s wonderful impression of breaking ice quickly enters the scene. As far as worn out and slightly off key sounds go, Denmark’s Øjerum is an expert on that. His works are often soothing and slightly disturbing at the same time, as are Roly Porter’s, entering the mix around the 7 minute mark. We take a step back then for the second third of the mix, combining IA’s “Mater Lacrimosa” with, again, the percussive side of Biosphere. The last third of the mix is a piling of works, as often happens in my radioshow Sensenta on the Dutch Concertzender. IA meets John Coltrane meets Markus Guentner meets the genius of Kaija Saariaho. And finally, since it’s polite to introduce oneself, the last notes of “Glacier Looming,” is an impression of the weight of the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, a work using birdsong and semi-modular synthesis.
Sadly Supercontext is now defunct although Christian and co-host Charlie Bennet still release a monthly podcast for Patreon supporters where they chat about the media they’ve been consuming. I highly recommend you go through their archives and listen to shows you think might strike your fancy.
I respect Christian and Charlie’s taste in music and invited them to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Christian has delivered a mix that ranges from prog to math to dirge rock with a dollop of hip hop. Not your usual SOUNDWAVE fare but for me, at least, it was the perfect soundtrack to this week. 300,000+ dead from COIVD-19 and a President and his supporters who seemingly want to upend democracy. Christian’s mix is the blast of sound and fury I needed to propel me though the week.
Special thanks go out to Taylor Shechet for sequencing this week’s mix. Christian didn’t have the original tracks and when I offered to assemble the mix GarageBand refused to import the audio files. Taylor did me a solid by putting the mix together. And if you love today’s show then you’re definitely going to love Taylor’s mix for SOUNDWAVE that I’ll release in the next month or so.
CORRIDOR Magazine
Before I go, I want to mention that Christian and David Moore are launching a project called CORRIDOR Magazine, a new horror magazine bringing the weird worlds of short fiction, art, comics, and essays together under one roof. I’m helping fund it and so should you if this sort of thing is your bag.
Jonathan Ammon’s American Splendor album
I also wanted to share Jonathan Ammons’s new release, “Living Proof,” from his forthcoming album, American Splendor. I’m looking forward to the album. If you want to hear more music from Jonathan, listen to his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.
Harold Budd
Lastly, some sad news. Ambient composer Harold Budd died December 7. Just the day before I was listening to The Pearl, an album he recorded with Brian Eno, the day before he passed and was thinking how much I enjoyed his music. Harold was a pioneer in ambient music. He will be missed and my condolences go out to his family and friends.
And on that somber note, it’s time for me to say goodbye.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Harrold Roeland.
This week our guest deejay is Joel Shearer, an international and highly regarded session and touring musician, composer and producer based in Los Angeles, CA.
I met Joel through Carmen Rizzo when he was our guest deejay back back in July (check out Carmen’s mix here). Carmen’s mix was beautiful and as is my wont I asked Carmen who he knew personally that would be interested in participating in the show and he recommended Joel. I can’t thank Carmen enough for introducing me to Joel because we very much need to hear Joel’s mix.
If you’re new to SOUNDWAVE then you should know that I launched the show to help cope with the isolation of stress of COVID-19 and the stay at home orders back in March. The only thing that gave me solace was ambient, classical, instrumental and experimental music and I decided to share what I was listening to whoever else might need to hear it as well.
Here we are nine months later in the second wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths. It's going entirely as predicted. What I don’t think think anyone could have predicted is the absolute magnitude of our current administrations ineptness at handling the pandemic. Several vaccines to combat the virus have been developed at astounding speed. That's breathtaking. Equally breathtaking is that instead of the 300 million doses the administration had promised before the end of the year the plan is now to only distribute 35 to 40 million doses. We’re at the beginning of a second wave with over 288,000 deaths and there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel except that light is being blocked by an administration that seems to go out if its way to bungle the distribution of the vaccines.
When I began SOUNDWAVE there is no way I could have predicted these infuriating and crazy making responses to the pandemic by our current administration, which is why I, and maybe you, need to take comfort in Joel’s mix. It's exactly the kind of succor we need. I’m Listening to Joel’s mix as I write this and I find myself wrapping it around me like a cherished and well worn coat to keep me warm in the winter.
Joel has some words to share about today’s mix below but before we get to that I wanted let you know that guest deejay Robert Rich has released his new album, Neurogenesis, earlier this week.
Robert Rich’s Neurogenesis album
I’ve been listening to Robert’s music since last century when I heard I discovered him on the From Here To Tranquility Volume 2 compilation album. I later interviewed him and when I featured his live set on solipsistic NATION. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Robert face-to-face (at a safe and respectable six foot distance, of course) this summer while I was in Northern California and Robert was kind enough to play me a few tracks from Neurogenesis in his studio.
Robert started recording Neurogenesis in Spring of 2019 inspired by a lucid dream. Robert says Neurogenesis expresses optimism about the potential for human consciousness. At the start of pandemic lockdown in March he stopped working on Neurogenesis to record Offering to the Morning Fog because listeners were asking for something calm. He got back to work on Neurogenesis in June, and finished in late October. I’ve been listening to Neurogenesis all week and I’m glad Robert is able to share his album with the world.
You can hear more music from Robert in his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Christian Sager.
See you then!
Let’s hear from Joel about today's mix.
Joel Shearer
This playlist is intended to turn folks onto new music from known and unknown ambient artists.
Antonis Haniotakis is Melorman and he comes to us through Stratos Pilos. Stratos works for Inner-Ear and SDM Records, two of the most active independent labels in Greece, and contacted my way back in August about featuring music from those labels on solipsistic NATION, my defunct electronic music podcast. I suggested that an artist from his roster guest deejay and here we are with today’s show.
Melorman’s mix is short and sweet and will take you through an emotional journey. It’s been the soundtrack to my Thanksgiving week and I know you’re going to love it. I hope to have Melorman on SOUNDWAVE with another mix in 2021.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Joel Shearer.
See you then!
Melorman
Melorman is the alias of Greek electronic producer Antonis Chaniotakis. For over 20 years, the Athens-based artist has been making electronic music, ranging in musical style from emotional and ambient electronica to experimental and glitch.
His sound is instantly recognizable, and his music is often described as warm and commanding, seeking to inspire nostalgia and create an emotional imagery through sound. The melodies are aerial and fluffy, often changing frequently. Melorman attempts to reach and capture the ultimate feeling and embodiment that melody has on the human emotional state.
As I write this we’re driving to Arizona to pick up our daughter who we haven’t seen her in over seven months.
Before the self-quarantine in California began we took our kids to stay with their bio-dad and his partner. We didn't know how the virus was going to play out and my wife was certain she was going to be summoned for duty and I was going to work from home. Having them with their dad and his girlfriend was our best option.
We picked up our boy from Arizona a few months ago and by the end of the day all our family will finally be under the same roof again.
So here we are in the car and we’re listening to today’s mix. That’s my wife's idea, which is very flattering. Ambient and experimental music isn’t her thing.
This mix is very special to me.
I launched SOUNDWAVE to help cope with the stress and isolation of being under self-quarantine due to COVID-19.
We’ve been living with the Corona virus for over half a year now so it’s easy to forget that the during the early days of the self-quarantine we were all white knuckling it. We were all asking ourselves how long this would go on, what can we do to protect ourselves, and will we or our family members or friends die from the virus?
I don’t know about you but during that time I found it difficult to focus on anything outside of work, and work was a blessed distraction. My television could barely hold my attention and I’d turn it off in frustration. I found myself unable to read books and would read the same paragraphs over and over again. And I discovered that music no longer spoke to the truth of my new reality. Love songs in particular seemed inane. The only music I could listen to was ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental where there were no lyrics and I could infer or impart my own meeting. And if that was the only music that gave me solace then surely others needed it to, so why not share it?
Shortly after launching SOUNDWAVE I invited folks I knew to guest deejay on the show. I was overwhelmed by the responses so I sat on today’s mix until the right time.
So here we are. Finally.
The first track on today’s mix comes from Dronny Darko’s latest album, Origin. The entire album is fantastic and I was so impressed that I invited Dronny to be a guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Dronny Darko is on the roster of artist on the Cryo Chamber label, as is our next artist, Sabled Sun, which is Simon Heath, the founder Cryo Chamber. And from Sabled Sun we segue into Multicast Dynamics. Samuel van Dijk is the man behind Multicast Dynamics and today’s track comes form his fifth album, Lost World.
All of these songs seamlessly blend into each other until we fade into Ecker & Meulyzer, who I discovered n the Bandcamp Daily blog. Wonderful, spooky stuff full of powerful rhythms and raw swaths of sounds.
From there we hear a piece by West Dylan Thorsdon from the Split soundtrack. That man can do a lot with just a bow and a cello that’ll raise the hair on the back of your neck.
Our next song is from the Devs soundtrack by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. If you haven’t watched Devs, please do so. It’s written and directed by Alex Garland and I think it’s Alex working in peak form. And Ben and Geoff’s music elevate Devs into sublimity. Oh, and Geoff is also a member of Portishead and you should definitely listen to his bandmate, Adrian Utley, mix for SOUNDWAVE.
We end today’s show with a piece by Those Who Walk Away from composer Matthew Patton’s album, The Infected Mass. It’s a mournful song for a mournful show. Patton’s piece is accompanied By some words by Peter Wessel Zapffe from his book, The Last Messiah. Prior to the pandemic I was knee deep in the nihilism of Thomas Ligotti and Emil Ciordan and Zapffe’s name kept popping up so naturally I had to read his stuff. Being steeped in nihilism isn’t the healthiest frame of mind to be in during the self-quarantine so I exorcised it with today’s mix.
I love this mix and I’m happy to finally share it with you after listening it to it weekly for the six months. It’s also something of a relief because today’s mix is also a touchstone to very unhappy time in my life and I’m glad to finally let go of it.
Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be E & S from one of my favorite labels, Other Forms of Consecrated Life.
Today’s guest deejay is Axel Arturo Barceló, who I met while interviewing him for solipsistic NATION about his netlabel, Discos Konfort. I enjoyed talking to Axel about his label and dug the music from his roster of artists that he was one of the first people I contacted when I started asking folks to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. I know you’re going to live his mix!
Axel Arturo Barceló
This is another one of those entries that I have to keep short because I have friends from out of town that I’m about to meet up with for dinner. A few things before I go…
A few weeks ago I saw a photo of apocalyptic skies due to the fires in NorCal that Robert Rich posted on Facebook. When I discovered that he and I lived in the same area I said we should hang out, and so we did. Robert is just a nice and thoughtful as you’d imagine. We was also generous and gave me a copy his latest CD, Offering to the Morning Fog. So cool to finally meet the guy whose music I’ve been listening to since last century. Check out Robert’s mix for SOUNDWAVE here.
Joseph Aleo and Robert Rich
This week I’ve been enjoying W. David Oliphant’s new album, Beyond All Defects: 2020, that he recorded with Sir Richard Bishop. Actually, I don’t know if enjoying is the right word. More like experiencing it. Oliphant’s music is haunting and that doesn’t even begin to capture the depth of his music. Look, just listen to the damn album and hear for yourself. Or listen to Oliphant’s mix for SOUNDWAVE.
Okay, that’s it. I got a flex. Join us next week when our guest deejay will be protoU.
On today’s SOUNDWAVE our guest deejay is Hannah Peel! I’ll tell you why I am so excited to have her on today’s show shortly.
I just got back from traveling to Chicago for a vacation. I love that city and each time I go to there the more I want to move there. Granted, we went there just before fall, which is the best time to visit Chicago. It was neither hot and humid or wet and frigid.
I got to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law, run to the lakeshore and watch the sunrise, and bike around the city but overall it was an eating vacation. I live near Los Angeles so my expectations for superior restaurants is high. Chicago surpasses those expectations. You simply can’t get a bad meal in that city. The restaurant that served the best meals was The Purple Pig but our favorite dining experience was Podhalanka. We met Greg, the owner, who made us feel welcome and ordered our meals for us and each dish was delicious. Greg clearly loves what he does and he cares deeply that you are well fed.
But I’m not here to talk about what I did on my vacation. I’m here to tell you that I’m grateful that I was able to spend time with family and friends. I hadn’t realized how much I needed a vacation until we landed in O’Hare. Usually it takes me a day or two to unwind but I instantly relaxed the moment we arrived. And I’m also grateful for our vacation because it gave me some time to process a lot of my thoughts and feelings regarding COVID-19 and how to lead my life going forward. I’m not going to go into the details here but what I will share with you is that COVID-19 has brought into sharp relief that our time on this planet is short and we could leave it at any moment. The last few months I’ve met many people who have I opened up and shared their deepest thoughts with me. And why not? Now’s the time to do it. And like a lot of people, I’ve been reevaluating my life and what I want to do with it during the time I have remaining. Despite the anxiety of COVID-19 I’m also excited about the possibilities that lie before all of us.
I began SOUNDWAVE to help cope with the stress of the pandemic but over the last half year my relationship to COVID-19 has changed dramatically. I hope it has for you as well. Carpe diem.
Let’s get to today’s show, shall we?
As I mentioned above, our guest deejay is Hannah Peel.
Until a few weeks ago I wasn’t familiar with Hannah and had only become acquainted with her when I asked SOUNDWAVE guest deejay, Charles Hazlewood, who he knew personally that might be interested in sharing a mix on the show. Charles put me in contact with Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Hannah Peel. Adrian’s mix was lovely and Hannah’s mix is no less so.
On today’s show Hannah will take you to some very surprising places and she begins her mix with a track from Joni Mitchel. So unexpected! You’re in her capable hands so enjoy the journey. I know you’re going to love today’s show.
As I said, I was unfamiliar with Hannah but I’ve been getting up to speed. And you should, too, because Hannah’s music is also unexpected. Her songs can be delicate and achingly familiar. She’’ll paint impressionistic music with swathes of sound but will also delight you with covers of pop songs from the ‘80s performed on music boxes. I catch myself singing Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” constantly thanks to Hannah.
Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be Jonathan Ammons.
When I launched SOUNDWAVE I didn’t have a plan for the show beyond being a coping mechanism for COVID-19. The first could of weeks under the safe at home lockdown I was white-knuckling it every day. We’re we going to enter a Great Depression? A lot of the shelves in the supermarket were bare. When I used the keypad to pay for my groceries there was an undercurrent of anxiety. Would touching it might end up killing me? I’m sure you experienced your own version.
It became clear one of the few things that was providing solace was the ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music I was listening to. I reasoned that if the music was listening to was giving me some relief then other folks might as well. And producing a monthly show would also provide a welcome distraction from my fears.
That was it. That was the plan.
But I quickly decided to update SOUNDWAVE’s schedule to a weekly basis for as long as the safe at home orders were in place. Almost immediately afterwards I began inviting guest deejays to contribute mixes to the show.
I did not anticipate was everyone’s generosity. Nearly everyone I asked to sent me a mix and as I write this I have shows scheduled to September. I’m tempted to release all the shows all at once à la Netflix so you can listen to the mixes à la carte. It feels criminal to have all this wonderful music to myself only to dole it out to you once a week.
When I made the decision to invite guest deejays to share their mixes I reached out to people I knew from my electronic music podcast, solipsistic NATION. One person I contacted was David Newman, founder of Audiobulb Records. I never had the opportunity to have David on the show but I was hoping to have him contribute a mix to SOUNDWAVE. David wasn’t able to participate but he did introduce me to Gert De Meester of Distant Fires Burning and Kirk Markarian of Neuro… No Neuro.
Kirk is our guest deejay today. I knew the show was in good hands when I listened to Kirk’s Electronic Frequencies, an excellent program on Concertzender Radio in Utrecht, that features ambient and experimental composers. More great music for us to enjoy!
Before Kirk talks about his mix I encourage you to purchase one or more of the songs you enjoyed on today’s show. The artists pour their hearts into each track. Your purchase of songs or albums helps them continue working on their craft but also puts food on their tables and a roof over their heads.
See you next Sunday. Our guest deejay is Planet Boelex!
Kirk Markarian
This mix begins with a track by NOEL-KIT – “Summertime” – from their album, Tokyo Noise. Sounds pan about the audio field, growing, fading; bursting from underneath NOEL-KIT’s enthusiastic interpretation of the season.
Following this, we move into “Edall” by Autistici from their album Beneath Peaks. Almost like breathing, the track pulls one in and cycles to and fro until the cycle speeds up, and becomes off-kilter, shifting the listener into a gentle, calm, yet shiny future.
From there, out of the soothing wash, we have a longer track by the artist Distant Fires Burning – “Science Stops…” – from their album Build on Me. Starting with a beautiful electric keyboard sound that echos softly into the distance, the track blends into a harmonic freeze that shifts the listener into a hazy field.
From there, a soft segue into Wil Bolton’s long play “Woven Geometry” from their album Viridian Loops begins. Field recordings exist throughout the entire track while beautiful synthetics pulsate fade in and out around the beautiful padding underneath the entire piece.
For the final track, we fade into an uplifting rhythmic piece by mg&mw – “Seagulls” – off their album All Steamed Up. Analog synths, harmonica, bass, and electric percussion all blend into a very catchy tune that places the listener directly into a moment.
There’s a lot of tools I use to put these shows together and I thought I’d share one of them with you today. It’s called Pinboard. It’s a social bookmarking service that’s a lot like Delicious, if you happen to remember Delicious. It’s okay if you don’t because Yahoo pretty much killed Delicious when they purchased the service. Killing services is something that Yahoo seems to excel at.
Anyway, the way Pinboard works is that when you come across a website or article or blog post that you want to go back to later, you can bookmark it on Pinboard. You can also tag your bookmarks, include a summary of what your bookmarking and search all your bookmarks or any of the bookmarks others have saved to Pinboard.
Some people use Pocket or Instapaper or Evernote for bookmarking and I use those, too, but Pinboard is pretty much where I save everything.
So why am I talking about Pinboard on today’s show? Because I bookmark everything that I might want to reference on each episode of The Weekly Mix. If there’s anything that comes up on The Weekly Mix that you’re even remotely curious about, you can find it there. Bands, labels, interviews, videos, all of it is on Pinboard. You can click the link to my Pinboard account on today’s show notes or go directly to bit.ly/WEEKLYMIXPINBOARD
